More than half of the people who took out a personal loan over the past 10 years were borrowing to buy a car.

Comparison site Mozo.com.au commissioned a Researchify survey of more than 1600 consumers to learn out why people applied for personal loans and found that, apart from buying a car (at 52 per cent), the other big use was debt consolidation, which accounted for 14 per cent of applications.

Eleven per cent of loans were taken out to pay for medical expenses and 10 per cent to pay for holidays.

New car sales of 890,790 so far this year, plus used car sales, are underpinning continued growth in the personal finance market.

The average new car loan interest rate on the Mozo database is 5.95 per cent and the average used car loan rate is 6.57 per cent. 

The average unsecured personal loan rate of 9.54 per cent.

People’s Choice was rated personal loan provider of the year in Mozo’s latest Expert Choice Awards and Auswide Bank, Beyond Bank and Credit Union SA shared the honours for best car loan.